


Give it a Try

by MerMagicAnaLily



Series: Out Past Curfew [4]
Category: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (Disney Movies)
Genre: College, Comfort, Discrimination, F/M, Fluff, Love, Zombie, senior stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23150404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerMagicAnaLily/pseuds/MerMagicAnaLily
Summary: He nodded, then looked at Eliza. “No hesitation, right?”“Zed…”“Promise me,” he said seriously. “No hesitation.”She sighed and nodded. “No hesitation. I’ve got her, Zed...but so do you. You’re in control of yourself as a full zombie.”
Relationships: Zed Necrodopoulus/Addison Wells
Series: Out Past Curfew [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1650292
Comments: 10
Kudos: 54





	Give it a Try

“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” Zed asked. “Because...I don’t know what I can guarantee will happen when I take this off.” 

Addison looked into Zed’s eyes, the picture of calm. Eliza sat in the corner of the Zombie Safe Room at school, playing on her phone while rolling her eyes at how sickly sweet they are. “Zed,” Addison said. “I do trust you, completely. I know you won’t hurt me, and just in case, Eliza’s here to help, though I don’t think she’ll need to do anything.”

He nodded, then looked at Eliza. “No hesitation, right?”

“Zed…”

“Promise me,” he said seriously. “No hesitation.”

She sighed and nodded. “No hesitation. I’ve got her, Zed...but so do you. You’re in control of yourself as a full zombie.” 

“I can’t guarantee what I’ll be like…what my simplified brain will be thinking,” he said. 

“That’s why we’re practicing,” Addison said, and Eliza moved over and sat next to Zed.

“I can tell you what to do. I’ve done it,” she said. “Look at Addison, deep in her eyes before she takes it off. Look at her like you’re trying to remember every detail so you can draw her with silver sharpie on black paper in a dark room. Like you’re trying to figure out how to show the color of her eyes using just a pencil on cork board, like you want to describe the exact way her lips look when she smiles to a blind man. Think about every memory you have of hers like you’re trying to remember it so you can write it in a book three hours from now, like you need to tell someone who doesn’t speak the same languages you do so that they can know her as well as you do. Think about her voice like you’re going to try to repeat every conversation you had on a muted piano, the way her hand feels in yours like you’re going to lose your hands tomorrow. 

“You need to basically memorize every little detail you can, like you’re rebuilding everything that makes Addison, well, Addison in your mind, like you’re never going to see her again, but if you forget a single detail, you’ll die. The more you think about her now, you try to memorize her now, the more defined she’ll be in your simple zombie brain. Then, she won’t be able to bring out out of full zombie, but she’ll be able to calm you no matter what.” She squeezed his shoulder and he took a deep breath, nodding, putting his hand on her cheek and looking deeply into her eyes. “There’s another thing. You also need to build her up in your mind like she’s a porcelain doll who already has a few fractures where you can’t see.”

“E...I’m not delicate or breakable,” Addison said. 

“I know you’re not, and Zed does too. But zombie Zed doesn’t have as easy of a time controlling his enhanced strength. I don’t think there’s a chance of him killing you, even accidentally, but hurting you involuntarily, breaking a few bones? That’s harder to control. At least for before removing his Z-Band or having the Z-Band lose control...he needs to think of you as the most delicate, breakable thing on earth, like a soap bubble,” Eliza said. “Then, if you add in his zombie strength, he’ll still probably hold you tighter and harder than usual, but it will be him being careful. For reference, even I have to think of Willa as a delicate, breakable thing before I took off my Z-Band in front of her, or before the two of us have sex because even though she can still use her wolf-strength to hold me back if necessary, she voluntarily taps into that strength and has to consciously do it. Zombies are the opposite, we have to consciously hold back, which is already more difficult with more than thirty percent of our brains completely inactive. Our strength and speed was created as a compensation for the decreased brain power, which is why with the Z-Bands on, we’re not as strong or fast. So Addison, every time before you guys practice removing his Z-Band and before you two decide to do what you want when you’re ready, he has to think of you as delicate, breakable, and even a little pre-fractured through no fault of his own so that he can keep control.” 

“Okay,” Addison said. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Eliza said, moving away from her best friend so he could focus on her words and drink in everything about Addison. “Talk him through this. Remind him of everything I was talking to you about. He’ll understand your English, but it’ll be harder to form the words, so he’ll probably only talk in Zombie Tongue. Wait for him to be more calm before you think about touching him, and always start with hand holding. Kissing is the last step.”

“Well...for now…”

“Addison, remember our talk? For both of your safety, removing Z-Bands is only to practice keeping him in control, with clothes on in PG settings. If you start heading into R and X territory, keep the Z-Band on. It’s another form of protection, just as important as the ones for preventing procreation and STDs,” Eliza said. “Don’t take it lightly.”

“Okay,” she said softly.

“Besides, don’t be gross while I’m in the same room as you two.”

Both of them cracked a smile and let out a little laugh. Addison took Zed’s hand and gave it a squeeze and he ran his thumb over her cheek. “Whenever you’re ready, Zed.” 

He nodded and took her hand, putting it over his Z-Band. “I’m focused.” 

She found the little makeshift latch over the busted lock and flipped it open, seeing Zed tense up already. “Relax.” He took a deep breath and relaxed and she slipped the Z-Band off of his wrist. He groaned and started contorting and twisting as his veins started bulging and his eyes turned a deeper red. He started growling deeply, twitching slightly and Eliza tapped Addison’s shoulder, telling her to let go of his hand. She couldn’t trigger the fight response in him accidentally. “Zed, it’s me,” she said softly. He growled and looked up, breathing heavily and maniacally. Eliza stood by the wall, keeping her eye on Zed as he growled and twitched on his seat at the Zombie Safe Room bed. 

“Zed,” Eliza said slowly. “You’re in control. You’re stronger than your Z-Band.” He let out a louder growl and lunged slightly towards Addison, but stopped himself. He stumbled again but threw himself back and shook, fighting going forward and staying where he was. Eliza sighed and grabbed the Z-Band from Addison’s hand and braced herself for a fight as she slipped it back on Zed’s wrist, seeing him go back to normal, panting heavily. 

“Wha..jus…” he looked up at Addison and then away. “I’m sorry...I…my brain saw where I was and humans and...I can’t do it.” He said. “We can’t do it.”

“Zed, don’t say that,” Addison said, reaching for him but he pulled away. 

“I can’t Addy...I...I could’ve hurt you.”

“Zed, look at me,” Eliza said, getting his attention. “What you went through is intense, okay? But you can do it. It took seven tries before I felt comfortable doing anything at all with Willa. First time she took off my Z-Band, I attacked her and she had to put it back on me five seconds later. You lasted three minute and didn’t attack anyone.”

“Really?” He said. “I...I almost did…”

“Almost is not doing it,” she said. “You can do it. It’ll take a few more tries, and you have to get comfortable with your zombie brain.”

“Nothing is ever easy for us, is it E?” He asked, asking for a hand up. She gave him a little smile and helped him up. 

“Afraid not. But we’re stronger.”

* * *

Addison rested her chin on her folded hands at the table, staring hopelessly at her computer screen. All she could see was the text box with a prompt at the top and the blinking cursor, mocking her. She had to write at least 1,000 words about what she was passionate about, and she couldn’t muster up enough sincerity about cheerleading. Of course, basically her whole life depended on what she could make appear on the other side of that blinking cursor, which only added the pressure to what she would write about. She loved cheerleading, but it didn’t sound as important as the essay needed it to be. She had tried writing the introduction at least five times, but hated it each time and deleted it. 

“Addy, hey,” Bree sat down next to her. “Still stuck on your essay?” 

“One thousand words on what I’m passionate about,” she mumbled. “Cheerleading sounds so superficial.”

“But you love cheer!”

“I do, and I’ve been doing it since I was going to cheer camp in diapers. But...another teenage girl writing an essay about how much cheerleading means to them? That the squad is like my family, that my life-long goals were achieved when Bucky named me cheer captain? It sounds so shallow and superficial.”

“But it’s not…”

“I know. But I’ve only got one shot to impress them. And I’m probably one of hundreds of cheer captains, at least.” 

“Well, just write a draft from the heart,” she said. “Maybe your cheer essay will be so wonderful that you beat out some tragic story of redemption.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bree,” she said with a smile sitting up and trying out her introduction again. 

~Pep is in the Wells family bloodstream, and the title of cheer captain passed down through each generation of the family. It’s a legacy we~

“Hey,” Zed slid down next to her and kissed her cheek. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know, wanting to throw my laptop into the ocean instead of writing this essay,” she said, leaning into his touch while he picked up his sandwich. 

“Essay? For what class?”

“No, no class,” she said. “College applications. It’s just a mess, you know?” 

“Oh, gotcha,” he said, but Addison detected a slight tone of hesitation in his voice. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I just started my newest project for the seniors engineering class. A couple of us wanted to try our hand at building those fighting robots for school competitions and Eliza already promised to code several sequences for us for the unmanned fighting sequences, but I’ve already got some ideas for the circuitry and the weaponry.”

“Really? All sketched out and everything?” 

“Sketched out, calculated, and even a few mock-up models built,” he said. “Everyone liked my sketches and designs, they let me take the lead, so I’m not only captain of the football team, I’m also the captain of the robotics team.” 

“Zed, that’s awesome!” She said with a little laugh and a hug. “Do you know how good that looks?!”

“Yeah, ‘Captain’ is a good look on me!” He said. 

“Zed, I mean-“

“Zed!” Eliza slid in on Zed’s other side and opened up her laptop. “Here’s what I was thinking for the robot. I started on some preliminary codes.”

“Really?!” He leaned over and saw her type in a few lines before a 3-D rendering of a robot moving around a rink. “Did you do it for the shredder feet or the crushing arm?”

“I did two moves for each, but for a competition we need a lot more codes as well as a functioning intelligence, but I can’t do that until we have a fully built model.” 

“Okay, well most of the team is working on the outside anyways, maybe we can hook-up the circuit board I built first?” He asked. 

“Yeah, we can try that,” Eliza said. 

“Wow…I never pegged both of you as geeks,” Addison teased. 

“You kidding?” Eliza said. “Zed may play it all cool on the outside, but he’s pretty talented with engineering.” 

“Seems like it,” she said. 

“Yeah, I built Bonzo’s first mixing table for his Zombashihro,” he said. 

“That’s nothing!” Eliza said. “He built me the coolest thing for my Zombashera.” She slid her laptop over to the screen with binary code. 

“Um...what am I looking at?”

“The whole thing! Zed built me the laptop!”

Addison’s eyes widened and she looked over the laptop. “Zed, you built this!”

“Yeah, there was an old book from the 90s in Zombietown about computers, several computers were thrown out from Seabrook, so I was able to use those and a bit of other scrap metal I welded to finish up the shell, and the motherboard is interchangeable, so Eliza can always be one update behind the rest of Seabrook.”

“Because that’s when they toss out their laptops, at every update,” Eliza said. 

“Zed, if you submitted this to a college...you’d get in anywhere!” Addison said impressed. But Zed and Eliza closed off. 

“Actually, I kinda already have plans for after high school, you know? Hired at my dad’s factory fixing and setting up machines full time, so it’ll be good money for the family.” 

“But, if you went in for engineering…” Addison started. 

“No, it’ll be good for us,” Zed said. “We don’t really have the money for something like that, and it’ll be good to have another income along with my dad’s for Zoey’s stuff now that we can buy new stuff for ourselves.”

“But-“ 

“Hold on, Gus is from the robotics team is texting me,” he pulled out his phone and there was a real text from Gus. “Damn it, he messed up some of the calculations on the motherboard. I’ve got to go fix it,” he got up and kissed Addison on the cheek. “See you after class like we planned? So we can try again?”

“Um...yeah…?”

“Okay, love you!” He said, running off down the halls, putting his sandwich in his mouth as he put his backpack on. Addison frowned confused after him, but turned back to her computer and sighed in resignation at the blinking cursor again. 

* * *

Zed paced the Zombie Safe Room, waiting for Addison to pop in after her cheer practice. Wyatt was with him exploring all the different books and binders. “Well, werewolves never had to deal with this...at least,” he mumbled. 

“Huh?”

“All these books...they’re instructions on how to kill you guys. Headshots before they eat your brains...deadly fear of fire any size...desire in male zombies to...violate young pretty girls?” He looked up and Zed scoffed.

“Literally all lies,” he said. “Well...early zombies ate brains, but that ended the instant Z-Bands were introduced.

“So you’ve never eaten brains?” He asked and Zed looked away. 

“Not as a food source.”

He frowned. “So you have?”

“Ask Eliza about Zombasheras and Zombashihros.”

“I’m not close to her,” he said, cocking his head. Zed sighed again. 

“Tradition for our thirteenth birthday. Z-Bands removed zombie needs for brains, and brains also came with a side effect that paired with the Z-Band, makes us so sick that even without our Z-Bands, it eliminates any trace in our full zombie state to want to eat brains.” 

“So...you have eaten a brain, when you were thirteen?”

“Yeah...do *not* recommend it. I still have PTSD nightmares from that...and some of us threw up after.”

“You?”

“Like a good quarter of zombies who do this,” he said. 

“And how many zombies do the tradition?”

“All of them, since we figured out the side effects decades ago,” he said. “It makes sure that even without my Z-Band, I won’t want to eat brains or actively hurt humans unless my fight or flight is triggered,” he said. “I’m guessing wolves don’t do that either, do they?”

“We have many traditions...none that gross,” he said, making a face as he looked through another book detailing the ridiculously incorrect anatomy of a zombie female. “How do you get the brain?”

“Organ donors, and an understanding backed with bribes to medical examiners. Nobody gets hurt, remember? It’s how the zombies do it.” 

“Right, I remember,” he said, right as Addison ran in. 

“Sorry, I had to handle four Aceys...I can’t believe they didn’t graduate yet,” she said, panting as she put her stuff down. 

“I can,” Zed said, pulling Addison in and kissing her sweetly. “Hi.”

“Hi…”

“Blegh,” Wyatt put the book he was looking at away. “Why am I here again?”

“Insurance,” Zed said. “On her behalf. You can wolf out and get strong enough to hold me back if anything happens. And...no hesitation for that, okay? If you even suspect it...take me down and hold me down until my Z-Band is back on my arm and activated, and I’m back to this.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, friend…” he said, and Zed shook his head. 

“When I go full zombie...I’m basically indestructible. No hesitation, no holding back. Her safety first.” 

Wyatt nodded and settled on a chair in the corner while Addison put her stuff down and looked up at Zed. “Whenever you’re ready…”

He took a deep breath and remembered everything Eliza told him. He memorized every detail he could see and think of regarding Addison. His memories with her, her voice, every little fleck of color in her eyes. Slowly, he put her hand over his Z-Band, memorizing how soft her skin felt in his rough hands, and he nodded slowly, slowing his breathing. She flipped open the latch and carefully slid his Z-Band off, holding onto it tightly as she saw the veins bulge, his eyes redden, and everything about him is what Seabrook feared monsters looked like. 

She let go of his hand as he started growling and panting. “Zed...can you hear me?” He groaned and growled, then looked at her, huffing. She didn’t take a step back. “Zed? Can you nod if you hear me?” 

Slowly, he nodded, but he saw a large figure by the corner of the room and his senses lit up, growling and roaring at him until Addison stepped in front of him. “No, Zed, he’s a friend...your friend…” He continued growling at Wyatt in the corner, who tensed up a little, but Zed didn’t move forward. “Back to me Zed,” she said. “Can you look back at me?” He slowly pried his eyes off of Wyatt back on to her, stumbling slightly. “Good, good. Zed...can you take my hand, Zed?” He slowly reached out and took her hand. “Good, you’re doing great.” She smiled. 

But then he started squeezing her hand, and it started getting hard, almost crushing her fingers. She cried out but kept her eyes on Zed. “Wyatt...hand, help…”

He rushed forward and pressed down on pressure points, forcing Zed to release her hand. Zed roared at him, and Wyatt howled back, holding his gaze while Addison slipped the Z-Band back on and activated it. As he slowly came back to normal, he felt light on his feet and Wyatt and Addison had to help him back onto one of the beds. 

“Zed? How do you feel?” Addison asked, sitting next to him. Wyatt took her hand and inspected it before heading to a first aid kit and grabbing some anti-bruising ointment and an ice pack. 

Zed noticed Wyatt’s movements and frowned. “I...I hurt you?” 

“You just squeezed my hand a little too tight…” she said. “Nothing major, nothing broken. And you were calm throughout the whole thing. You’re in more control than you think.”

“You’re sure?” He watched Wyatt apply the ointment and ice to her hand and she held it in place. 

“I’ve gotten worse cheer bruises, babe. And you didn’t even squeeze too hard. You were trying to go for sweet, but forgot you were…”

“Hulked out?”

“Great way to put it,” she said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his lips. “So...want to head to my place tonight for homework?” 

“I...I can’t. My dad has a late night and I’ve got to make dinner for my little sister.”

“Oh...maybe I could head over…” 

“No, it’s fine. Zoey and I kinda wanna have a Zed and Zoey night. You know, movies and stuff like when we were younger,” he said. “Next time though.” He slowly got up and put his backpack on. “See you tomorrow?”

“Oh...okay, sure…” she said with a weak smile. She watched him leave and slowly picked up her stuff. 

“Trouble in paradise?” Wyatt asked, putting the first aid kit away. 

“Didn’t seem like it. He’s just...off…I hope he’s okay,” she looked up at him. “Keep an eye on him when I’m not around?”

“Sure. I’ll have Willa look out too whenever she’s over at Eliza’s. But I’m sure he’s fine, nothing more than nerves.” 

* * *

Addison kept staring at her computer screen, sitting cross legged in her desk chair at home. She tried a different approach of writing out some drafts of her essay on notebook paper first, and that ended with an almost overflowing wastebasket of crumpled up paper. She still had no idea how she could make cheerleading sound like the thing she was the most passionate about without sounding like some lead girl in a cheesy movie. To make things worse, she still wasn’t sure what she wanted to major in, and the people going in as “undeclared” had a harder time getting into schools. 

She also couldn’t stop thinking about Zed, the way he was going to take a job that he wasn’t super passionate about for the money. She knew that zombies had a lot of economic problems thanks to human oppression, but for Zed to give up an engineering dream before he started, all because he couldn’t afford it otherwise? That wasn’t fair at all. 

Eventually, she closed out of the college application page and instead opened up a search engine. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard before she started typing in “engineering scholarships.” There were thousands of results, and she saw one that applied to all the different Universities of California, right where she was applying. She smiled and looked at all the requirements, and she saw that the GPA required was lower than what Zed’s actually was, and since he not only had the grades and well rounded curriculum as president of the robotics and football team, he also had a portfolio of his engineering successes like a laptop built by hand that lasted over five years. 

She printed out the application for the scholarship and started filling it out for Zed, only needing him to fill out the last few details and sign in before he had to turn it in, and she’d send it in for him. It would also be great if they could go to college together and continue this romance rather than live up to two and a half hours away from each other. It’s not the worst drive to make every weekend to visit him, but she still wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. 

She smiled happily as she put the papers in a folder that she was going to present to Zed and thought she even got a second wind at writing her personal essay for college applications, and scribbled away at the paper furiously. Soon, she stopped and read over what she wrote. 

-Rah, rah, shish boom bah might as well have been my first words as a baby. My first toys were my mother’s pair of high school Pom-poms, and since I could walk, I was always in my backyard, tumbling with my cousin Bucky. To say that cheer is a part of my family legacy would be the biggest understatement as the only person in my family who didn’t cheer war my dad, but he was too busy being a fullback on the football team to backflip across the green and catch a flying girl post-basket toss. He did, however, support every other cheerleader who came across his way and is always the loudest supporter at every cheer competition.- 

She stopped reading and her smile vanished and she groaned, slamming her head against her desk. She didn’t throw this one out because it was the best written introduction to any of the essays she had written since the college essay prompts came out, but she did foot it up into a million folds and shove it inside one of her books on her desk. 

* * *

Addison sat on the floor in front of Wynter in the Zombie Safe Room before classes started, trying not to fall asleep as she waited for her coffee to kick in. Wynter was humming to herself as she braided intricate designs into Addison’s white hair, going all out and adding some of the extra ribbons she had for cheerleading into the braids. 

“Is it cute or cheesy if I use more green ribbons in your hair to show off support for your zombie boyfriend?” She asked, adding another green ribbon into the braid. 

“I think it’s cute,” she said. “Bucky would hate it...but he graduated last year so he doesn’t get a say,” she said with a little laugh. 

“I thought he was better,” she said. 

“I mean…generally,” Addison said. “He’s not outwardly discriminatory, but he’s still pretty prejudiced against zombies and werewolves. So progress?”

“Racism is still racism,” she said, tying off one end before working on another. 

“Well...yeah, but now he believes in integration in society and stuff, that zombies and werewolves aren’t ‘beneath’ humans...but he still wouldn’t hang out with one willingly out of the blue as friends,” Addison said. “Still bad, but better, and if he changed that much in less than three years, maybe there’s hope for our former cheer rockstar.” 

“Says a lot when the former monster-phobic mayor and captain of the Z-Patrol are more accepting than some former high school cheerleader,” she said, tying off the other end before adding it to a fishtail braid going across Addison’s head and over her shoulder. Addison nodded in agreement before taking her phone out and checking her reflection. 

“Whoa...werewolves really do know hair!” She said, touching her white hair intertwined with pink and mostly green ribbons. “I might hire you as the official cheer team stylist.” 

“You’re too kind, but I’m not too interested in that. Just something to pass the time while your boyfriend runs as fast as he can because he slept in,” she joked. “So, Wyatt told me I’m basically just here waiting to tackle him and fight him if I have to?”

“This is mostly for his peace of mind than anything,” Addison insisted. Her hand didn’t even hurt anymore. “He’s afraid that his strength without his Z-Band will break me in half, so while we’re practicing at his control without it, he wants someone who can match him in strength, like another zombie or a werewolf, to be in the room, ready to take him down for my safety. The most that happened was he squeezed my hand a little too hard and Wyatt had to make him release. But I’m fine, see?” She held up her hand that looked completely fine. 

“Well, humans are pretty fragile,” she said, right as Zed rushed in. 

“I am so sorry!” He said, sitting next to Addison and giving her a good morning kiss, then giving Wynter a short handshake. “Puppy ate through almost all of Zoey’s left shoes, so I had to try and help her find a shoe that was still intact. We couldn’t find any but Eliza had some of her old shoes that fit her, so she’s not barefoot at school, at least,” he said with a little laugh. “How are you?” 

“I’m pretty great!” She said. “Wynter did my hair, which I think looks amazing!”

“It does,” he said. “It always looks amazing, but I’m loving the green rep,” he teased lightly, tracing one of the strands of ribbon with his finger. 

“Thanks!” Wynter smiled proudly. 

“Oh! And I found something online for you last night I want to show you, but after this,” she said. “I think you’ll like this news!”

“Alright, can’t wait to see it. But we only have 20 minutes before classes start, and I need to get into the zone. Are you sure you’re ready to try again already?”

“Yes! I want to be with you,” she said. 

“Please remember another person is here,” Wynter said. “If it starts getting weird, I’m either pinning him to the floor or leaving.” 

Zed laughed a little bit and looked up at her. “No weirdness in the way you’re thinking.” Wynter let out a little chuckle as Zed started meditating, slowing down and focusing on Addison. She stayed still, knowing that Zed would grab her hand when he was ready. She watched him breathe slowly, then look deeply into her eyes. Addison smiled comfortingly and reached out, silently asking him if he was ready, and he nodded, grabbing her hand like he had the last few times. She undid his Z-Band and held it in her hand, watching him go through the transformation again. 

It looked painful from her perspective, the way his body would comfort and shift, how his veins bulged out as they turned black, and he breathed like there were holes in his lungs. She asked him a while back if it hurt being in his zombie state, and he told her that only the initial shift hurts a little but after, it just feels like an altered state, like when he thinks back on it, like he was high. He told her she didn’t have to worry at all about his shift and altered state for him, only in how it affects her. She just needed to focus on what aspects of his zombie state could hurt her. 

Soon, his raspy breathing slowed and he looked at her carefully. “Addiska?”

“I’m here,” she said calmly. “I’ll always be here.” He grunted and looked down at her hand, and she nodded, reaching out to carefully grasp his hand. “I trust you, I know you’re careful.” He looked down and linked their fingers together. He squeezed tighter than he normally held her hand, but it wasn’t painful. It was almost…reassuring. “See? We’re okay,” she said smiling. “You’re good.” 

“Gar gargizar Addiska,” he grunted softly. 

“Gar gargizar Zed,” she said back, looking up deeply into his eyes. She started to lean closer to him, and he was hesitant at first, but he also leaned closer until their lips met and her eyes closed gently. She put one hand on his cheek, and she felt his breathing get more even. She slowly pulled away after a while and looked at the clock on the wall before putting his Z-Band back on. 

He slowly started shifting back to normal, and he took a deep breath when he was back to normal, taking Addison’s face in his hands and smiling. “You kept me here.”

“I’ll always do that,” she said. Wynter was staring at them amazed. 

“Wow...not even Willa keeps Eliza calm like that. In control...but not calm.”

“Well,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “My Addy is absolutely amazing.” 

“Well, you didn’t need me,” she said. “I think maybe you two are good from now on.”

“Oh…” Zed got a look of panic until she touched his arm. 

“You’re in control, and she’s got you, okay?” She said. “I’ve never seen anyone full zombie stay calm like you did. Have you?” Zed thought about it, frowning until he shook his head. “Exactly. You need to have more confidence in her, and a lot more in yourself. You two have got everything handled. I trust you both to be fine. And just in case, you’ve got everyone on speed dial to rush over with increased speed.” She waved and left. Addison turned to look into Zed’s eyes.

“She’s right, babe. I think on the whole ‘controlling your zombie instincts’ part, we’re ready,” she said, and took his hand. “And for the other part, I’m ready when you are, and you don’t need to be ready for it right now, or whenever, or you could never want to…”

“I want to,” he said. “Not this second, or anything,” he said. “But soon, once I get a little more peace with myself potentially going full zombie in the middle of it even with my Z-Band on...but I know Wynter’s right, that I’m going to be okay, and so are you...that you’re going to be okay with me like that.” 

“I know I will be,” she said. “Because I know you.” She leaned up and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around him, feeling his arms going around her. When they pulled away, she smiled and stepped away. “Oh! There’s also what I told you that I found for you?” 

“Really?” He smiled and let her go so she could go through her backpack and pull out a little folder, handing it to him. 

“I know you were looking at the factory job because you didn’t want to worry your dad about the money, but this is a full ride scholarship, with housing, and food, and even a stipend for your textbooks so you don’t even have to worry about any expenses at all!” She said excitedly. “And looking at the requirements for the scholarship, you’re completely overqualified for this. If you just submit the calculations and a video of Eliza’s laptop with an explanation of how you made it, you’re a shoe-in for any school in the state.” 

“Oh...oh wow…” he looked at the application she filled out most of. “This...this is…wow…”

“It’s great! Right?!” She said excitedly. “We could try to go to the same school...maybe even take the same classes?” She took his hand. “We could even try to move in together after a while.” 

“Oh, Addison...I…” he got cut off by the three minute warning bell and he looked back at her. “I can’t be late for Spanish class again. Señora Gonzalez is going to eat my brain if I’m late again,” he said. “Which would be very impressive for a human,” he joked lightly, and kissed her cheek before running out. She frowned and walked out just a minute later, but she paused at the trash can just a few feet outside the door. The folder she just gave Zed was sticking out of it, slightly crumpled. 

* * *

“Eliza!”

Eliza turned around to see a white haired cheerleader sprinting to catch up to her. “Addison?”

“Eliza!” She caught up to her and stopped, leaning against Eliza’s locker and breathing heavily to catch her breath.

“Okay, Addison, breathe? Where’s the fire? Because if there is one, you should probably pull the alarm to prevent a zombie panic.”

“No! No, sorry!” She said. “I just...somehow I can talk to you to get clear answers than from Zed sometimes.”

“What’s going on? What did that idiot do?” She sighed and crossed her arms, and Addison pulled a folder out and gave it to her, the crumpled one. 

“Last night, I found this for Zed, and I was showing him, and then when he left the zombie safe room, I found it in the trash,” she said. “What did I do? Why did he do that?”

Eliza opened the folder and sighed when she saw the scholarship application inside. “There really is a lot you don’t know about zombies, huh?” 

“What’s going on?” She asked. “Is it rude to do stuff like this? Like...money wise? Are finances a sore subject for zombies?”

“No, I mean...we’re not thrilled with our financials, but you didn’t exactly do anything rude,” she sighed. “Addison, think about it, you really think Zed wants to work at a factory? Or that I want to be an electrician, like I’m planning on doing? Or do you think that Bonzo wants to work in construction?”

“Well…” she frowned. “I would have thought Bonzo would have done art or music...and you’re a magician with coding…”

“Exactly,” Eliza said. “But the things we’re planning...they don’t need college degrees,” she said. 

“But if it’s the finances…”

“It’s not the finances,” she said. “I mean, the finances don’t help, but it’s not that.” She sighed again. “Zombies aren’t allowed to go to college, Addy.”

“Wait...what?!” She frowned. “What do you mean not allowed?”

“Addison, the first time we were allowed to go to human public school was, like, a little over three years ago, and even that was touch and go since we were stuck in the basement until Zed put his life at risk to get us rights throughout the city. We’re not even allowed to leave the city yet, we still have a curfew…college? That’s a faraway dream for Zoey’s future children, at best.”

“That’s not fair! You’re the best coder I’ve ever seen, Zed can build a laptop from scratch, and Bonzo’s made the most amazing art and music I have literally ever seen! You guys should be allowed to pursue your education! Go further!” 

“Yeah, should and are happen to be two very different things,” Eliza said. “We made our peace with it since we were kids. We would love to be able to go to college, but we can’t. So we do our best. Zed’s dad is the first zombie in any managerial position. We’ve come far, but we’ve got a long way to go.”

“Yeah...but…” she paused. “I’m going to fight this.”

“Addison, you know I’m the first in line for fighting against injustice, but this…this is too big.”

“Too big from where you were,” she said. “But you forget that I have people in power as my connections. And I’m going to find a way to make you, Zed, Bonzo, and everyone else who wants it the first zombies to go to college.”

“You’re insistent in your beliefs, huh?” She said. 

“I’m the first human to ever date a zombie, and I hope I might be the first to ever marry one, if it comes to it,” she said. “And I hope it does. So if you don’t think I’m not going to fight tooth and nail to give my friends and my boyfriend what they deserve, you don’t know me well enough.”

“I’m not holding my breath,” Eliza said, but put a hand on her shoulder. “But I’m proud of you, really. And I do hope, even just a little, that your crazy firey plan and personality works. But just know that we’ll be okay where we’re planning for now, okay?”

“Okay,” she said. “Should I talk to Zed?” 

“I’ll talk to him, cool him down. I’m sure he doesn’t think you were being insensitive or he probably thought you didn’t know, which you didn’t. But he’ll be okay once he licks his wounds.” 

“Okay,” she said. “Tell him I’m really sorry...and that I’m here whenever he’s ready for me.” 

“I will,” she said. “And take it easy. We’ll be okay. And Zed? He’ll be good too. Now get to class before we both get in trouble?”

“I’ll see you later, E.” 


End file.
